I'm back...

Sort of.
I've been gone for over a year for reasons I won't get into now. Just wanted to say I don't have as much leisure time to read but I have read some books I can post about.
I'm over most paranormal books...meaning you won't see many talked about here. To me they are way over done and I'm moving on.

On another note. Excited for The Hunger Games being made into a movie.

Scrambled Eggs at Midnight Brad Barkley & Heather Hepler Dutton Books 262 pages

Most amazing book ever...Thank you Stephanie Perkins! I love you for this recommendation.

I was/am blown away by HOW amazing this book is! I want to read it over and over and over, and I know I WILL never get tired of reading it. So, SO incredible. I would have to put this book in like my 5 All Time Favourites. Probably at #1 or 2.

It’s a book so full of different things, I can’t believe they packed it all into such a short book. As most of you are aware I am not the biggest fan of books under 300 pages because I just really feel like the story is unfinished or rushed. And I am left feeling completely unsatisfied. Not so with this story. It was full of feeling, full of love and longing and sadness and laughter. It was just full. And the ending didn’t feel rushed. It just felt right.

Now for my favourite part...sharing the quotes with you, there are too many to put them all down, and they are mostly paragraphs. So enjoy, I will try to limit myself.

BUY THIS BOOK TODAY!!!!

“When you grow up the way I do, and the biggest thing in your life so far has been getting dunked in a glass tank by a man who acts like he’s mugging you but says instead he’s saving your soul, then celebrating your soul mugging at Sizzler with your parents (get the buffet by itself, not added on to a steak dinner, because the buffet already has sirloin tips), you need rules. And not their rules, not God’s rules, but mine. My own. Here’s on of Eliot’s Rules for Dating:

When you first meet a girl, make sure you are accidentally conducting a chemistry experiment on your lips.

OK. I didn’t say they were all good rules.

She looked like she believed in something, or wanted to, and I hoped to hell it wasn’t God, not in the way The Dad believes, because all that does is make him forced and desperate. No, it was something else, not just that I saw a pretty girl and just got all excited. I mean, yeah, that part is true, and she really was gorgeous, and the freckles covering her, the freckles on top of freckles all spread out and folding into one another made her skin look like it had grain and texture, like polished wood, like it would feel smooth to the touch, and so soft. I knew that. But it wasn’t how she looked.

"Eliot, huh?" she says. The thin fabric of her long T-shirt brushes my arm. "Is everyone in your family named for a famous symbolist poet?"

"No, I'm named for someone who was supposed to be in the Bible but isn't."

"No? What happened to him?"

I glance over at her, the way the corner of her mouth turns up, half-smirk, half-smile. Her hair moves as she walks.

"He was called to be a disciple, but he had, you know, stuff to do."

"Stuff, like...polishing his sandals? Making lunch?"

We keep walking, over the bridge across the lake, past the swings and the playground equipment, just walking.

"Exactly. And what about you, Calliope...is everyone in your family named after a...what is it? A keyboard? An organ?"

"It's a steam-powered piano. It's also the name of the Greek goddess of poetry. You should read stuff other than chemistry; you'd know these things." Her smirky smile again, her sleeve touching my arm.

I feel like my skin has been removed, every nerve exposed. I open my mouth, and this comes out: "I think you are more goddess than piano." Stupid, stupid.

But she laughs. "You know, that's the nicest thing anyone's said to me today."

"You don't see too many calliopes," I tell her.

"I'm Cal, actually. I mean, that's what I prefer."

"I meant the steam pianos...you don't see too many." She stops and looks at me, full-on, and right away I put it on the list of the best moments in my life.

"Until you said that, Eliot, I wasn't fully aware of the demise of the steam piano, so thank you. Really."

I smirk at her and we both fight not to smile. "Okay, smart-ass," I say.

“I want to show you something,” I say.

“What?” He dabs at his lips with the napkin, and for a moment I’m wishing so hard that I am that napkin that I can almost feel myself changing, becoming thin and papery and white. “Cal?” I sit back and feel myself blushing, feel it from the tips of my toes all the way to the heat at the backs of my ears.

City of Glass, Cassandra Clare, Simon and Schuster, 541 pages

What can I say except I <3 <3 <3 this series. Am I heartbroken that the series is over? I was for about a nano-second until I heard there was going to be a fourth! City of Fallen Angels comes out March 31, 2011. I am assuming that’s Simon on the cover since it alternates between characters. BUT that is for another review. We are talking about CoG!
And what really IS there to say? Except that it was awesome. As always. The characters have grown and come into themselves. The plot thickened. The unraveling of major points was done masterfully. And yeah, just loved it.

I really wanted to give you more of a variety, more snarky, sarcastic comments from the characters that I’ve grown to love. But...have I mentioned before that I’m a sap? Yeah...

"There is no pretending," Jace said with absolute clarity. "I love you, and I will love you until I die, and if there is life after that, I'll love you then."

"And I'm suppose to sit by while you date boys and fall in love with someone else, get married...?" His voice tightened. "And meanwhile, I'll die a little bit more every day, watching."

"I was thinking about the first time I ever saw you," he said, "and how after that I couldn't forget you. I wanted to, but I couldn't stop myself. I forced Hodge to let me be the one who came to find you and bring you back to the Institue. And even back then, in that stupid coffee shop, when I saw you sitting on that couch with Simon, even then that felt wrong to me-- I should have been the one sitting with you. The one who made you laugh like that. I couldn't get rid of that feeling. That it should have been me. And the more I knew you, the more I felt it--it had never been like that for me before. I'd always wanted a girl and then gotten to know her and not wanted her anymore, but with you the feeling just got stronger and stronger until that night when you showed up at Renwick's and I knew."

""You said you were going for a walk!? What kind of walk takes six hours?"
""A long one?"

"And now I’m looking at you,” he said, “and you’re asking me if I still want you, as if I could stop loving you. As if I would want to give up the thing that makes me stronger than anything else ever has. I never dared give much of myself to anyone before – bits of myself to the Lightwoods, to Isabelle and Alec, but it took years to do it – but, Clary, since the first time I saw you, I have belonged to you completely. I still do. If you want me.

"I wouldn't change it," Simon said. "I wouldn't give up loving you. Not for anything. You know what Raphael told me? That I didn't know how to be a good vampire, that vampires accept that they're dead. But as long as I remember what it was like to love you, I'll always feel like I'm alive."

"...there was an electric anger in his gaze, and a sort of challenge that made Simon long to hit him with something heavy. Like a pickup truck.”

Fade Out, Rachel Caine, Signet, 237 pages

I wasn’t too worried about this book being a good one. I wasn’t worried that one plot kind of ended and where would Rachel go with this one. But I loved it! I thought it was nice that things “sort of” slowed down for our four main characters. I will say that the one thing that disappointed me was the lack of Michael/Eve and Shane/Claire. They were there but it was rocky and I would have liked for it to have been more, what’s the word...not happy, but with the danger for them slowing it would have been nice for their relationships to not have hit rough patches. Am I just a sap? Maybe...and I’m okay with that.

“I heard this girl worked for Bishop,” said one of the guys, who had a tire iron resting on his shoulder. “Carrying around his death warrants. Like one of those Nazi collaborators.”

“You heard wrong,” Shane said. “She’s my girl. Now back off.”

“Let’s hear from her,” said the leader of the pack, and locked stares with Claire. “So? You working for the vamps?”

Shane sent her a quick, warning glance.

Claire took in a deep breath and said, “Absolutely.”

“Ah hell,” Shane breathed. “Okay, then. Run.”"

"Anybody else think that was weird?” Shane asked as they got into the car. Eve sent him an exasperated glance; the three of them were, of course, in the backseat. Amelie had the front, with Michael.

“Ya think? In general, or in particular?”

“Weird that we got through the entire thing, and I didn’t have to hit anybody.”

There was a moment of silence. Michael said, as he started the car, “You’re right, Shane. That is strange."

Audrey, Wait! Robin Benway, RazorBill, 313 pages

I had passed by this book so many times, and each one I wanted to reach out and grab it. But I didn’t. Now I want to know what took me so long! If I’d had an inkling of how enjoyable this book was to read I would have grabbed it the first time.

That being said, if you haven’t read it, but have thought about it, DO! NOW!

It was snarky and fun and I enjoyed the dialogue between all of the characters equally. I didn’t think I’d enjoy the main character as much as I did.

There were too many quotes that I liked so I’ve really scaled it down.

"It's funny how bed and pillows and covers can change a conversation. Words turn quiet and you mean more and say less. It's like you can build your own little world, Population: 2."

"If our school ever performed a play about the French Revolution, she could play the guillotine."

Need, Carrie Jones, Bloomsbury, 306 pages

I am on a roll with the reviews today. I’ve been trying to get to some of these books since I started the blog. This is one of them. I bought it right after it was released. I think it was the cover that got my attention.

The gold.

Added bonus, the phobias.

"There is no easy off button for your brain.It would be really really nice if there were."

"I start to grab it so I can it pass it to him. He reaches for it at the same time. Our fingers touch, and the moment they do the fluorescent lights overhead flicker and then fizzle out.

Everyone moans, even though we can all still see. THere's enough light from outside filtering in, just not enough for us to really focus on the finer details.

Nick's fingers stroke mine lightly, so lightly that I'm almost not sure the touch is real. My insides flicker like the art room lights. They do not, however, fizzle. I turn my head to look him in the eye.

He leans over and whispers, "It will be hard to be just your friend.”

He tries to hand them to me, but then remembers the cast. "I'll put them in water."

Betty swoops in the room ridiculously fast and she grabs the flowers out of Nick's hands. "I'll take care of them. You lovebirds just sit on the couch and think swooning things at each other."

The Tear Collector, Patrick Jones, Walker Books, 272 pages

First let me say that I find it strange that a book who’s main character is a girl, has a boy on the cover. At least I’m almost positive it’s a boy. (and I do think I know why, but still)

Weird.

I thought it was a nice, refreshing twist on “vampires”, some race of people who need to feed off of your tears and sorrow to survive.

I was at odds with Cass though, the main character, where I enjoyed her and could empathize with the demands on her life, I felt like she didn’t come across completely teen-ish. It felt like maybe she was more of an adult. Which if you think about it, I suppose makes sense because she’s been “feeding” her family for years, taking in everyone’s sorrow, listening to their stories.

I really liked the fact that Scott, the love interest, was just a normal guy. He wasn’t bad boy, in this world of bad boys, he believes in God, doesn’t care that people know, is sensitive to the feelings of others, and yet still a teen boy.

I thought the developement of the friendship between Cass and Samantha was pretty awesome. And really liked the turn the story took once Cass thought about stepping into the life she wants.

The part I felt fell flat and was very quick was the whole thing with Cass’ cousin.

Overall I enjoyed it.

I had to return this book to the library so there are no quotes today.